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Thursday, July 2, 2015

Vatican City, 2 July 2015 (VIS) - “One
billion tourists, one billion opportunities” is the title of the
Message for World Tourism Day 2015 (27 September), published today by
the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and
Itinerant Peoples. The Message, dated 24 June, was signed by Cardinal
Antonio Maria Veglio and Bishop Joseph Kalathiparambil, respectively
president and secretary of the dicastery.

The document, as its title indicates,
focuses on the opportunities and challenges that the great increase
in tourism represents for contemporary society and notes that the
concept of the “tourist” is increasingly being substituted by
that of the “traveller”, who does not merely visit a place but
rather, in a sense, becomes an integral part of it. In the light of
Pope Francis' Encyclical “Laudato si'”, the Message highlights
that the tourism sector, by promoting appreciation of natural and
cultural wealth, can promote their conservation or, paradoxically,
their destruction. The Message finally invites the transformation of
travel into “an existential experience”.

“It was 2012 when the symbolic
barrier of one billion international tourist arrivals was surpassed.
Now the numbers continue to grow so much that the forecasts estimate
a new threshold of two billion will be reached in 2030. To this data
even higher figures related to local tourism must be added.

For World Tourism Day we want to
concentrate on the opportunities and challenges raised by these
statistics, and for this we make the theme proposed by the World
Tourism Organisation our own: 'One billion tourists, one billion
opportunities'.

This growth launches a challenge to all
the sectors involved in this global phenomenon: tourists, businesses,
governments and local communities and, of course, the Church too. The
billion tourists should necessarily be considered above all in their
billion opportunities.

This message is being made public a few
days after the presentation of Pope Francis' Encyclical Laudato si’
dedicated to care for our common home. We need to take this text
into great consideration because it offers important guidelines to
follow in our attention to the world of tourism.

We are in a phase of change in which
the way of moving is changing and consequently the experience of
travelling as well. Those who go to countries different from their
own do so with the more or less conscious desire to reawaken the most
hidden part of themselves through encounter, sharing and
confrontation. More and more, a tourist is in search of direct
contact with what is different in its extra-ordinariness.

By now the classic concept of a
'tourist' is fading while that of a 'traveller' has become stronger:
that is, someone who does not limit himself to visiting a place but
in some way becomes an integral part of it. The 'citizen of the
world' is born: no longer to see but to belong, not to look around
but to experience, no longer to analyse but to take part in, and not
without respect for what and whom he encounters.

In his latest Encyclical, Pope Francis
invites us to approach nature with 'openness to awe and wonder' and
to speak 'the language of fraternity and beauty in our relationship
with the world'. This is the right approach to adopt with regard to
the places and peoples we visit. This is the road to seizing a
billion opportunities and making them bear even more fruits.

The businesses in this sector are the
first ones who should be committed to achieving the common good. The
responsibilities of companies is great, also in the tourist area, and
to take advantage of the billion opportunities they need to be aware
of this. The final objective should not be profit as much as offering
travellers accessible roads to achieving the experience they are
looking for. And businesses have to do this with respect for people
and the environment. It is important not to lose awareness of
people's faces. Tourists cannot be reduced only to a statistic or a
source of revenue. Forms of tourist business need to be implemented
that are studied with and for individuals and invest in individuals
and sustainability so as to offer work opportunities in respect for
our common home.

At the same time, governments have to
guarantee respect for the laws and create new ones that can protect
the dignity of individuals, communities and the territory. A resolute
attitude is essential. Also in the tourist area, the civil
authorities of the different countries need to have shared strategies
to create globalised socio-economic networks in favour of local
communities and travellers in order to take positive advantage of the
billion opportunities offered by the interaction.

From this viewpoint, also the local
communities are called to open up their borders to welcome those who
come from other countries moved by a thirst for knowledge, a unique
occasion for reciprocal enrichment and common growth. Giving
hospitality enables the environmental, social and cultural
potentialities to bear fruit, to create new jobs, to develop one's
identity, and to bring out the value of the territory. A billion
opportunities for progress, especially for countries that are still
developing. To increase tourism, especially in its most responsible
forms, makes it possible to head towards the future strong with one's
specificity, history and culture. Generating income and promoting the
specific heritage can reawaken that sense of pride and self-esteem
useful for strengthening the host communities' dignity, but care is
always needed to not betray the territory, traditions and identity in
favour of the tourists. It is in the local communities where there
can grow 'a greater sense of responsibility, a strong sense of
community, a readiness to protect others, a spirit of creativity and
a deep love for the land. They are also concerned about what they
will eventually leave to their children and grandchildren'.

One billion tourists, if well received,
can become an important source of well-being and sustainable
development for the entire planet. Moreover, the globalisation of
tourism leads to the rise of an individual and collective civic
sense. Each traveller, by adopting a more correct criterion for
moving around the world, becomes an active part in safeguarding the
earth. One individual's effort multiplied by a billion becomes a
great revolution.

On a voyage, a desire for authenticity
is also hidden which is realised in the spontaneity of relations and
getting involved in the communities visited. The need is growing to
get away from the virtual, which is so capable of creating distances
and impersonal acquaintances, and to rediscover the genuineness of an
encounter with others. The economy of sharing can also build a
network through which humanity and fraternity increase and can
generate a fair exchange of goods and services.

Tourism also represents a billion
opportunities for the Church's evangelising mission. 'Nothing
genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts'. First of
all, it is important for the Church to accompany Catholics with
liturgical and formative proposals. She should also illuminate those
who during the experience of travelling open their hearts and ask
themselves questions and in this way make a real first proclamation
of the Gospel. It is essential for the Church to go forth and be
close to travellers in order to offer an appropriate and individual
answer to their inner search. By opening her heart to others, the
Church makes a more authentic encounter with God possible. With this
goal, hospitality by the parish communities and the religious
formation of tourist personnel should be enhanced.

The Church's task is also to educate to
living free time. The Holy Father reminds us that 'Christian
spirituality incorporates the value of relaxation and festivity. We
tend to demean contemplative rest as something unproductive and
unnecessary, but this is to do away with the very thing which is most
important about work: its meaning. We are called to include in our
work a dimension of receptivity and gratuity, which is quite
different from mere inactivity'.

Moreover, we should not forget Pope
Francis' convocation to celebrate the Holy Year of Mercy. We have to
ask ourselves how the pastoral care of tourism and pilgrimages can be
an area to 'experience the love of God who consoles, pardons, and
instils hope'. A particular sign of this jubilee time will
undoubtedly be the pilgrimage.

Faithful to her mission and starting
from the conviction that 'we also evangelize when we attempt to
confront the various challenges which can arise', the Church
cooperates in making tourism a means for the development of peoples,
especially the most disadvantaged ones, and setting in motion simple
but effective projects. However, the Church and institutions should
always be vigilant to prevent a billion opportunities from becoming a
billion dangers by cooperating in the safeguard of personal dignity,
workers' rights, cultural identity, respect for the environment, and
so on.

One billion opportunities also for the
environment: 'The entire material universe speaks of God’s love,
his boundless affection for us. Soil, water, mountains: everything
is, as it were, a caress of God'. Between tourism and the environment
there is a close interdependency. The tourist sector, by taking
advantage of the natural and cultural riches, can promote their
conservation or, paradoxically, their destruction. In this
relationship, the Encyclical Laudato si’ appears to be a good
travelling companion.

Many times we pretend we do not see the
problem. 'Such evasiveness serves as a license to carrying on with
our present lifestyles and models of production and consumption'. By
acting not as masters but with 'responsible stewardship', each one
has his or her obligations that must be made concrete in precise
actions that range from specific, coordinated legislation down to
simple everyday actions, passing through appropriate educational
programs and sustainable and respectful tourist projects. Everything
has its importance, but a change in lifestyles and attitudes is
necessary and surely more important. 'Christian spirituality proposes
a growth marked by moderation and the capacity to be happy with
little'.

The tourism sector can be an
opportunity, indeed, one billion opportunities for building roads to
peace too. Encounter, exchange and sharing favour harmony and
understanding.

There are one billion occasions to
transform a voyage into an existential experience. One billion
possibilities to become the makers of a better world, aware of the
riches contained in every traveller's suitcase. One billion tourists,
one billion opportunities to become 'instruments of God our Father,
so that our planet might be what he desired when he created it and
correspond with his plan for peace, beauty and fullness'”.